"It left me confused and questioning myself as much as I was questioning him, and I don’t think people believed me"

Last week, an incredibly brave young woman came forward to tell us she had been a victim of date rape. Having experienced DNA Light Up in 2018, she felt a nudge to let us know what had happened, and how the tools had helped her when other people seemed less than willing. Whilst asking to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, she has given her permission to publish her story.

Here is the message she sent to us:

“In August 2019, I went on a date with a man and he spiked my drink and took me back to his place. I blacked out for about 5 hours (I’ve never blacked out before so definitely wasn’t from the 2 glasses of wine I’d had that night) and came round for a few seconds at one point in pain but I couldn’t move. The next few days were very strange - I was very ill, in pain and confused. On day 2, I went to the pharmacist to get the morning after pill and I hinted at what had happened and prayed she’d ask me more questions and she could help, but she didn’t. I also tried to get a test to show the drugs in my system, but I was running out of time. I’m not registered with a doctor where I live, and after speaking to 4 people on the phone (and not one of them asking if I was ok), I was told I’d have to go to A&E if I wanted a test done. I didn’t go because it wasn’t an emergency, I was probably out of time anyway, and I didn’t want to tell someone again and feel dismissed. I think that day was the worst because I felt so alone and so confused. What I didn’t realise before, is what a clever crime it is - it left me confused and questioning myself as much as I was questioning him, and I don’t think people believed me.

BUT (an intentional gremlin ??), the reason I am telling you is because I was, and I am, ok. I stopped questioning myself within a couple of days and found that faith and trust in myself that I had been looking for before Light Up. I thought something like that night would ruin my life and yet somehow it hasn’t.

I know that you and Light Up have a huge role to play in that. For me, that’s the beauty of Light Up and what you do - even when I feel like I haven’t tuned in with my light recently or that I’ve ‘lost it’, it’s always there. Light Up tapped into something that when I needed it, it was there to stop me retreating into panic and fear of the world. Perhaps the sense of self and self-worth I gained from Light Up meant what happened didn’t completely cloud up my car windscreen on the drive through life and instead is just a dead fly in the corner”